Way back on Oct. 9th, my friend Mark went on the first simulated space flight for weightlessness, that was commercially offered to the public. Here is his report. Let me introduce your guest blogger for the day: Mark Yturralde.
Weightlessness
I'm back. I had THE best time. It was just incredible.
First off, no. I didn't puke. At all. Not even the slightest bit nauseous.
Words utterly and totally fail me. It's hard to describe without sounding like a total goon, but here goes.
The day started off at the Hard Rock Hotel, where the 'briefing' takes place they really go all out to make it feel like you're getting ready to be an astronaut for a day. They go a little overboard, but their hearts are so totally in the right place (and I’m such a huge geek) I decided to buy into it lock, stock and barrel.
Peter Diamandis, the guy behind the X-Prize, stands up and gives a great talk about space tourism, the x-prize, and where he hopes this is all going. Peter is an excellent speaker, and I really enjoyed listening to him. He shows a couple videos of what you're going to experience, and then there's a small break for a very light lunch.
Me and Peter Diamandis http://www.nucgen.com/pix/space/me_peter.jpg
Then Peter Introduces Rick Searfoss, our astronaut for this trip. Rick has piloted three Shuttle missions, and was commander on two of those. If you EVER need a great motivational speaker, you must call this guy. He showed us some home movies he'd made on the shuttle, with some really neat footage even I had never seen before. Great guy too. Friendly, engaging, he was a big part of why the day was so incredible. I told him after the flight, that meeting him was the second coolest thing I did today.
Me and Astronaut Rick Searfoss http://www.nucgen.com/pix/space/searfoss.jpg
Then we got our flightsuits. You can see me wearing it in all the pics. It's so damn hard not to brazenly strut around in it. When you'd walk through the casino in it to get a drink... Man, I felt 100ft tall. I FELT like an astronaut, goofy as that sounds. Plus, it helped keep you warm as the conference room was chilled to something like 50 degrees… I was wondering if sub-zero temperatures was part of the experience…
Me on the bus http://www.nucgen.com/pix/space/busride.jpg
Then off to the airport. You have to go through a FAA metal detector test like any flight. Wouldn't want any weightless terrorists now would we? Then you get to board the 727 through the rear access door, which was kind of cool. The plane has only enough seats in the back for the crew and the participants (which Peter called "self loading carbon payloads"). The front of the plane is open for weightless fun!
At least it was warm inside the plane. They split you into three teams; I was on Gold team at the front of the plane. I liked that; it gave you a nice bulkhead to lean against during the 1.8 G climbs. Those almost as much fun as the weightless parts!
They start you off by doing a Martian parabola, which let's you experience 1/3rd gravity. Those last the longest at about 35-40 seconds. I finally can do one-handed pushups! There's enough gravity to keep you on the floor, but my 230lb frame only weighed 77 pounds. Everyone on the plane started laughing, having a great time. Actually, everyone was pretty much laughing through the whole thing, except the poor people who got really sick. Eight people got pretty ill. We did 2 Martian parabolas.
Me floating http://www.nucgen.com/pix/space/float.jpg
Then are the lunar parabolas, and I like those best. Don’t get me wrong, Zero-G rocked, but the 1/6th lunar gravity was what I enjoyed the most. The slightest flick of my ankle, and you were jumping across the plane like the bionic man.
Then gravity would slowly pull you back down, light as a feather. Those lasted about 30 seconds, and we did 4 of those. Finally, come the weightless parabolas. Superman jumps, spinning like a top, eating m&m’s as they float in front of you. Just amazing. We did nine of those.Some people never figured out that trying to swim doesn’t help. I understand the reaction though; it’s an instinctual reaction to try some sort of swimming motion.
Coming back down, I got to sit next to Rick Searfoss, and talk for about 40 minutes. Dude, I’m sitting here casually chatting with an astronaut for 40 minutes… Like, can you imagine me any happier? He clued me into my favorite new NASA acronym, ABNM or, Another Boring Nasa Meeting. ;)
At the after party, we all had a couple drinks, watched the videos, and talked. Without exception, everyone on the trip was interesting, nice, and fun to talk to. They then give you a ‘weightless certification" in a nice frame with the zero-g corp. logo on the bottom. Let me tell you something, this guy understands branding, because the zero-g logo in on EVERYTHING. ;) The freebies you get are a couple nice t-shirts, a pen, a very nice gym bag, a pad of paper, a luggage tag, a logbook to keep track of your flights; some stickers and they all have prominent logos. Oh, and how can I forget the socks! You get special socks with traction soles to wear during the flight.
I’ve been struggling to describe the experience, and maybe in the next couple days I’ll be able to describe it better. It was pure, distilled Joy.
Weightlessness
I'm back. I had THE best time. It was just incredible.
First off, no. I didn't puke. At all. Not even the slightest bit nauseous.
Words utterly and totally fail me. It's hard to describe without sounding like a total goon, but here goes.
The day started off at the Hard Rock Hotel, where the 'briefing' takes place they really go all out to make it feel like you're getting ready to be an astronaut for a day. They go a little overboard, but their hearts are so totally in the right place (and I’m such a huge geek) I decided to buy into it lock, stock and barrel.
Peter Diamandis, the guy behind the X-Prize, stands up and gives a great talk about space tourism, the x-prize, and where he hopes this is all going. Peter is an excellent speaker, and I really enjoyed listening to him. He shows a couple videos of what you're going to experience, and then there's a small break for a very light lunch.
Me and Peter Diamandis http://www.nucgen.com/pix/space/me_peter.jpg
Then Peter Introduces Rick Searfoss, our astronaut for this trip. Rick has piloted three Shuttle missions, and was commander on two of those. If you EVER need a great motivational speaker, you must call this guy. He showed us some home movies he'd made on the shuttle, with some really neat footage even I had never seen before. Great guy too. Friendly, engaging, he was a big part of why the day was so incredible. I told him after the flight, that meeting him was the second coolest thing I did today.
Me and Astronaut Rick Searfoss http://www.nucgen.com/pix/space/searfoss.jpg
Then we got our flightsuits. You can see me wearing it in all the pics. It's so damn hard not to brazenly strut around in it. When you'd walk through the casino in it to get a drink... Man, I felt 100ft tall. I FELT like an astronaut, goofy as that sounds. Plus, it helped keep you warm as the conference room was chilled to something like 50 degrees… I was wondering if sub-zero temperatures was part of the experience…
Me on the bus http://www.nucgen.com/pix/space/busride.jpg
Then off to the airport. You have to go through a FAA metal detector test like any flight. Wouldn't want any weightless terrorists now would we? Then you get to board the 727 through the rear access door, which was kind of cool. The plane has only enough seats in the back for the crew and the participants (which Peter called "self loading carbon payloads"). The front of the plane is open for weightless fun!
At least it was warm inside the plane. They split you into three teams; I was on Gold team at the front of the plane. I liked that; it gave you a nice bulkhead to lean against during the 1.8 G climbs. Those almost as much fun as the weightless parts!
They start you off by doing a Martian parabola, which let's you experience 1/3rd gravity. Those last the longest at about 35-40 seconds. I finally can do one-handed pushups! There's enough gravity to keep you on the floor, but my 230lb frame only weighed 77 pounds. Everyone on the plane started laughing, having a great time. Actually, everyone was pretty much laughing through the whole thing, except the poor people who got really sick. Eight people got pretty ill. We did 2 Martian parabolas.
Me floating http://www.nucgen.com/pix/space/float.jpg
Then are the lunar parabolas, and I like those best. Don’t get me wrong, Zero-G rocked, but the 1/6th lunar gravity was what I enjoyed the most. The slightest flick of my ankle, and you were jumping across the plane like the bionic man.
Then gravity would slowly pull you back down, light as a feather. Those lasted about 30 seconds, and we did 4 of those. Finally, come the weightless parabolas. Superman jumps, spinning like a top, eating m&m’s as they float in front of you. Just amazing. We did nine of those.Some people never figured out that trying to swim doesn’t help. I understand the reaction though; it’s an instinctual reaction to try some sort of swimming motion.
Coming back down, I got to sit next to Rick Searfoss, and talk for about 40 minutes. Dude, I’m sitting here casually chatting with an astronaut for 40 minutes… Like, can you imagine me any happier? He clued me into my favorite new NASA acronym, ABNM or, Another Boring Nasa Meeting. ;)
At the after party, we all had a couple drinks, watched the videos, and talked. Without exception, everyone on the trip was interesting, nice, and fun to talk to. They then give you a ‘weightless certification" in a nice frame with the zero-g corp. logo on the bottom. Let me tell you something, this guy understands branding, because the zero-g logo in on EVERYTHING. ;) The freebies you get are a couple nice t-shirts, a pen, a very nice gym bag, a pad of paper, a luggage tag, a logbook to keep track of your flights; some stickers and they all have prominent logos. Oh, and how can I forget the socks! You get special socks with traction soles to wear during the flight.
I’ve been struggling to describe the experience, and maybe in the next couple days I’ll be able to describe it better. It was pure, distilled Joy.
Great description of your adventure, Mark. You need a blog of your own now.
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